All India Race Meet set for revival

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The Madras Motor Sports Club is on a mission to revive its legendary All India Race Meet that attracted hordes of fans to the erstwhile Sholavaram track.

The small military-owned airstrip used to be the weekend destination of Chennai's youngsters and families with picnic gears when it hosted racers from across the country for four decades until the 90s.

The state transport corporation operating Sholavaram specials and the demand for entry tickets were stories of racing folklore.

As the MMSC celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2013, the club members are planning to recreate the Sholavaram days.

Vicky Chandhok, president of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs in India, is chalking out a plan to bring all the racing events under single platform, the All India Race Meet.

In this proposed setup, JK Tyre-promoted races such as Formula LGB 4, Indian Touring Cars, Volkswagen Polo Cup, MRF's Formula 1600 and 2000, newly-launched Toyota Etios Cup and Tata's one-make series (which is in pipeline) will be held at the same weekend.

Vicky said the races would be held in February and packed with more than 20 races per weekend. “It will be a good product to market and will surely bring more crowd to the track. We are in talks with all the manufacturers and some of them are really excited about it,” said Vicky.

Though the manufacturers and constructors will not be competing with each other, some of them seem reluctant to be a part of the racing carnival.

Volkswagen India's motorsport head Prithviraj Siddappa, however, has no qualms about sharing the paddock with their market competitors.

“If MMSC improves their facility here by providing more garages and space for promotional activities, Volkswagen has no issues in joining Our objective is taking the sport to the mass and this setup will provide a great platform for that,” said Siddappa.

“The national two-wheeler racing championship has been running with various manufacturers being part of the same weekend, so I think four wheeler makers will also come forward,” said Amit Arora, GM of MMSC operations.